Painting Techniques & Processes — Courses in London & Online
Our range of creative, hands-on painting courses suit all levels of student experience and are there to encourage creativity and the development of painting skills for all. Taught by professional artists who bring their wealth of experience and specialist knowledge to enrich the student experience and to put the subject into historical and contemporary context.
Courses on offer include Start Painting - for absolute beginners, through Painting 1 and Painting 2 for the development of skills and knowledge. We also offer more intermediate courses with our contemporary painting studio and abstract painting courses, where students can further explore themes and their own painting projects.
Our fully equipped painting studios provide students with everything they need to get started, build confidence and create exciting work.
Courses available both in-person and online
At City Lit, you can choose to study in-person or online. Our fantastic in-person courses are taught in our attractive campus, located in the heart of Covent Garden, central London. Here, our students can benefit from a variety of services and resources, including our café and state-of-the art equipment.
Our online courses are tailored to give you a social and interactive online learning experience, allowing you freedom to study from anywhere and with like-minded fellow classmates from all over the country without the need to travel. Use the Location filters on this page to choose your preferred learning method. See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.
For more information about courses available, please contact our Visual Arts team at visualarts@citylit.ac.uk
- Contemporary painting studio
Course start date: Wed 15 Jan 2025 (and 3 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth Brison, Benjamin SeniorDevelop your own ideas in painting with reference to the work of contemporary artists and experimental processes on this higher level course. Ideal for students who have completed Painting 2 or Painting 3 or equivalent painting courses.Full fee £959.00 Senior fee £767.00 Concession £623.00 - Painting and drawing dialogues: performance and the body Course start date: Sat 25 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony Hull, Monika KitaDrawings and paintings can capture the body’s movement in their surface, alongside registering an image. By focusing on the ‘performance of making’ new perspectives will inform a more individual approach to your work.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Painting 1 Course start date: Thu 6 Feb 2025 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony HullPainting 1 offers an introduction to the basic principles and skills associated with painting. Focus on differing approaches to observational and imaginative work, whilst learning how to organise a palette, mix colours and create different textures.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Painting 2 Course start date: Mon 10 Feb 2025 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda BrackenBuilding on techniques and approaches covered in the Painting 1, this course enables you to work with more depth and a stronger emphasis on experimentation. This is suitable if you already have some experience in painting.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Oil painting projects Course start date: Sun 16 Feb 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda WalkerOil paint is a uniquely luscious and sensitive medium, which can be used to create expressive and complex images. This course is for oil painters with some experience who want to develop their own individual painting projects, with expert tutor guidance.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Ways into abstract painting Course start date: Tue 18 Feb 2025 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rebecca AllenEncounter different approaches to making abstract paintings while developing your skills in using a range of painting materials. With reference to the work of a variety of abstract artists explore the visual language common to both representation and abstraction, eg. colour, composition, tone and paint application.Full fee £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Painting: oil techniques and mediums Course start date: Fri 7 Mar 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mario Lautier VellaOil paint is a medium with a long historical tradition, capable of heavy impasto effects and delicate transparent colour films. Working practically, in the studio, this course will expand your understanding of approaches to building a variety of surfaces in your paint working with mediums and expanding your use of texture and glazing This course is for all levels – both beginners and more experienced painters.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Painting and drawing dialogues: looking back at self Course start date: Mon 10 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chris Hough, Tony Hull, Monika KitaWe all have a unique way of looking at the world, shaping what we see to fit our reality. Explore how painting and drawing can magnify unconscious distortions and how memory and the imagination come to embody ‘the Self’ in image-making.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Painting from plants and flowers Course start date: Mon 10 Mar 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hilary RosenExplore a variety of creative approaches for painting flowers from observation. Discover the rich history of this genre while taking inspiration from artists who use flowers as their subject matter.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Ways into landscape painting Course start date: Sat 15 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jack Duplock
This practical course introduces a variety of approaches to expand your understanding of landscape painting.Full fee £369.00 Senior fee £295.00 Concession £240.00 - Painting for beginners Course start date: Fri 21 Mar 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Begona Morea RoyExperience the joy of painting. Through simple exercises you will explore colour, painting techniques and the expressive qualities of painting using acrylic paints. The perfect way to start painting.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £139.00 Concession £139.00 - Painting: colour mixing for artists Course start date: Mon 24 Mar 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda BrackenA concise study of colour usage. Investigate colour perception and how colour interacts. Explore a range of observational and expressive painting projects, relate colour theory to practice and develop confidence using colour. An emphasis on colour mixing using acrylics and oil paint.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Abstract painting weekend Course start date: Sat 12 Apr 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda KnightLearn how to develop original abstract ideas from simple starting points and build confidence using a variety of painting approaches in acrylics. Explore the power of line, colour and texture in a lively weekend of structured project work.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Painting 3 Course start date: Fri 2 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony HullFollowing on from the course 'Painting 2', enhance your paint handling skills and understanding of the dynamics of a painted surface, through a series of set projects and short critical discussions. Examine the role of painting tools, marks and scale in building a painting.Full fee £429.00 Senior fee £343.00 Concession £279.00 - Oil painting: focus on light and shade Course start date: Fri 2 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Alex HannaThis oil painting course takes inspiration from the moody and luminous imagery of classic Film Noir such as ‘The Third Man’. Students will explore composition, tonal transition and contrast to enhance their pleasure in oil painting and create strong and powerful paintings.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00
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